What's New

In a move that will benefit nearly two million home care workers in the U.S., the Obama administration announced Tuesday that it will extend the minimum wage and weekly overtime protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to home care workers providing in-home support services to persons with disabilities, including aging persons.

Yesterday the California Legislature approved SB 400, a bill authored by State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) to provide employment protections to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. SB 400 now heads to Governor Brown, who has until October 13, 2013 to act on the measure. Please take action today to show your support for this esssential piece of legislation.

The San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA) and LAS-ELC today announced a legal victory in a lawsuit against clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch over the firing of a Muslim worker who refused to remove her religiously-mandated hijab (headscarf) as a condition for keeping her job.

Today, SB 770, authored by State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) passed through the Assembly with a final vote of 51-22. This bill allows workers to receive Paid Family Leave benefits while caring for seriously ill grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, and parents-in-law. The measure, sponsored by Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center (LAS-ELC), and supported by the California Work & Family Coalition, a project of Next Generation, would expand the definition of family to more accurately reflect the caregiving responsibilities of California families.

On the cusp of Labor Day, we are excited to announce that today, Senate Bills 400 and 770, both authored by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson and sponsored by LAS – ELC, passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. SB 400 prohibits employment discrimination against victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking and would provide for reasonable safety accommodations in the workplace. SB 770 expands the definition of family under the Paid Family Leave Act, and would allow employees to use their PFL wage replacement benefits to care for a grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or parent-in-law with a serious health condition. Both of these bills have already passed through the Senate and are now headed to the Assembly floor for a vote. Contact your Assembly representative to encourage them to support this critical legislation!

Today, LAS-ELC and Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (Center for Migrant Rights, or CDM) served Butler Amusements, Inc., a California registered business and the largest carnival company in the western U.S., with a lawsuit that was filed in federal court last month for violations of state and federal minimum wage and overtime laws.

We are very pleased to announce that John and Terry Levin and The Jay and Rose Phillips Foundation of California have awarded a two year grant to Fair Play for Girls in Sports, a project of the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center. It will allow Fair Play to continue the important work of providing equal athletic opportunities to low-income girls so they may go on to thrive in the classroom and the workplace.More

Today LAS-ELC joined the California Women's Law Center to provide legal services to homeless women veterans in Long Beach, CA at the third annual Female Stand Down. More than two dozen homeless women veterans sought legal assistance in just the first hour of the Stand Down. Said one of them, "I feel blessed to have found these services today."More

Last week marked the 75th anniversary of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), extolled by FDR as perhaps “the most far-reaching, farsighted program for the benefit of workers ever adopted here or in any other country.” But rather than celebrating FLSA—the bedrock of modern employment law—workers’ rights advocates are reeling from two negative Supreme Court decisions that threaten to nullify some of the law’s key protections. Read more